Cowboys’ advantage up front could be the difference Sunday in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA – One big advantage the Cowboys should have Sunday afternoon against the Eagles is Pro Bowl outside linebacker DeMarcus Ware going up against left tackle DeMetress Bell.

With right tackle Todd Herremans out for the season with a foot injury, Bell will line up at left tackle while King Dunlap, who started the last two games at left tackle, will replace Herremans on the right side. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Eagles offensive line coach Howard Mudd believes Bell is a little better equipped athletically to handle Ware, who is second in the league with nine sacks.

Of course, there are some who believe it doesn’t matter what personnel changes the Eagles make up front, that the bottom line is the club has a terrible offensive line after allowing Mike Vick to be sacked 27 times through eight games.

Under constant pressure, Vick has completed more than 61 percent of his pass attempts just three times this season and has just three games with more than one TD pass. Another reason for the Cowboys to feel good going into this game: Vick has completed just 10 of 27 passes the last two games against the blitz, according to the Daily News.

“Michael Vick has no offensive line in front of him,” former Redskins QB Joe Theismann told The Sporting News, per the Daily News. “I watched the New Orleans-Philadelphia game (last) Monday night and what I saw was a man running for his life…I’m convinced there are good college teams that could do a better job than they did.

“If you’re an offensive lineman, there’s got to be some want-to in you. You want to be able to defeat the person in front of you. You want to be able to protect your quarterback. You want to be able to crate holes for your running game. What I saw in the Philadelphia Eagles was no want. I saw a lot of what-ifs. If anybody but Michael Vick was back behind that line, (the Saints) would’ve had 10 sacks in that game.”